How to create an anti-aging skin care plan

Skin care in your 40s and 50s

Wrinkle creams, eye serums, and other anti-aging skin care products can help diminish signs of aging. To create a truly effective anti-aging skin care plan, however, it helps to start with healthy skin care habits.

The benefits of healthy skin care habits include:

Prevent (or clear up) a blotchy complexion

Retain skin’s youthful firmness longer

Reduce fine lines and wrinkles

Keep complexion looking brighter and younger

Avoid leathery skin

Reduce skin cancer risk

To help you create your own anti-aging skin care plan, you’ll find key healthy skin care habits below. Years of research supports each of these recommendations.

Anti-aging skin care tips

Protect your skin from the sun: Sun protection forms the foundation of every anti-aging skin-care plan. The sun’s rays make our skin age more quickly. We have so much evidence that the sun prematurely ages our skin that there is actually a word to describe this effect. This word is “photoaging.” To help patients protect their skin from the sun and other harmful UV rays, dermatologists offer these tips:

Seek shade: Be sure to seek shade between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. and whenever your shadow looks shorter than you are.

Cover up in style: Whenever possible, wear a wide-brimmed hat, pants, and long sleeves. Gloves help to minimize common signs of aging on our hands such as age spots. Sunglasses help reduce fine lines around our eyes.

Slather on the sunscreen every day before going outdoors: To protect your skin, apply sunscreen to all skin that clothing will not cover. You want to use a sunscreen that offers broad-spectrum protection, SPF 30 (or higher), and water resistance.

Apply moisturizer every day: As we age, skin becomes drier. Fine lines and wrinkles appear. Moisturizer traps water in our skin, giving it a more youthful appearance. For best results, use a facial moisturizer, body moisturizer, and lip balm.

Wash away dirt and grime twice a day: How you wash your face can affect your appearance. For best results, you want to wash with warm water and a mild cleanser rather than soap. You also should avoid scrubbing your skin clean.

Stop smoking: Tobacco smoke contains toxins that can lead to smoker’s face. Signs of smoker’s face include dull and dry complexion, loss of skin’s firmness, premature lines and wrinkles, and leathery skin.